Ring rail suspension



Feb. 27, 1962 E. D. MEADOWS RING RAIL SUSPENSION Filed Aug. 3, 1959 B Mraw ATTORNEYS 3,022,625 RiNG RAIL SUSPENSION Ernest D. Meadows, Atlanta,Ga, assignor to Meadows Manufacturing Company, Atlanta, Ga, acorporation of Georgia Filed Aug. 3, 1%59, Ser. No. 831,214 19 Qlairns.(Cl. 57-137) This invention relates to thread or yarn spinning ortwisting machines, and in particular to their ring rail assembliesincluding ring rails, ring rail seats and guide means.

A ring rail assembly is usually impositively actuated, as by lifter-rodmeans or by chain and pulley means, through up and down strokes ofvertically reciprocative bobbin build-up travel, the down strokeordinarily resulting from the lifting of a counterweight and the upstroke from the dropping of the counterweight. Previously, the ring railassembly has been guided for its impositively effected up and downtravel by guide collars or bushings around guide rods. Such guidingmeans is not favorable to smooth travel of the ring rail assembly and isespecially adverse to smooth reversal of the direction of assemblytravel. Furthermore, lint accumulating on the guide rods enters andsticks in the guide bushings and fouls up the guide means, eventuallyresulting in the sticking of the impositively actuated ring railassembly.

The present invention avoids the above defects of the previously usedguide means for the ring rail assemblies and provides a novel ring railassembly featured by a ring rail suspension having smooth, anti-frictionguiding coaction with guide rods. According to the invention, the ringrail suspension involves trolleys or carriages mounting the ring railseat and carrying anti-friction guide elements. Preferably theseelements are grooved rollers in balanced riding engagement with oppositesides of the guide rods. The guide rollers are journaled in the,trolleys by ball hearings or like suitable anti-friction means. Eachtrolley has at least two guide rollers and these rollers are invertically spaced positions at opposite sides of a guide rod passingthrough the trolley. This enables the pressure of the rollers againstthe guide rod to be equalized and enables the trolley to adjust itselflaterally to rolling of the guide rollers over lint accumulations on theguide rod. A ring rail assembly incorporating a suspension constructedaccording to the present invention is capable of smooth and rapid up anddown travel and is reversible in direction of travel without the illeflfect of vibration; also, the accumulation of lint on a guide rod orrods causes no sticking of the assembly inasmuch as the guide rollerscan freely ride over such lint. Another feature of the ring railassembly constructed according to the invention is the mounting of thering rail in a manner permitting it to be readily leveled.

Other features and objects of the invention will appear from thefollowing parts of the specification and from the drawing which shows,by way of example, a now preferred embodiment of the invention.

in the drawing:

PEG. 1 is a broken perspective view showing end portions of a ring railassembly in a thread twister, this shown ring rail assemblyincorporating the novel ring rail suspension.

FIGVZ is an enlarged view of one of the trolleys of the novel ring railsuspension, partly broken away and sectioned.

FIG. 3 is an end view of the trolley in FIG. 2 with one of the guiderollers in the trolley being in section.

In FIG. 1 is shown a section of a yarn or thread twister with avertically reciprocable ring rail assembly. This assembly includes thenovel ring rail suspension comprising trolleys T having anti-frictiontraction on verticaltatesatent 1y extending round guide rods 10.Suitable means are provided for mounting the guide rods 10 at upper andlower ends to the machine frame. The upper mounting means for the guiderods are not shown here but may include means for fixing the guide rodsto the frame in a manner permitting plumb adjustment of the guide rods.At the lower ends, the guide rods are held by bracket feet 11horizontally extending rom the bottom flange of a channel frame beam 12.The ring rail of the assembly is a horizontal plate structure 14 narrowin proportion to the length and downwardly flanged at the long sides.Circular holes 14a in the ring rail are adapted to be fitted withtraveler rings spaced clear around bobbins. To avoid complicating theshowing, the travelers, their mounting rings, the bobbins and the bobbinspools as well as other elements not directly entering into theinvention have been omitted from the drawing. It is understood, however,that during the spinning of the bobbin spools, the thread guidingtravelers rotate on their mounting rings in the holes 14a of the ringrail While the ring rail moves down and up according to the bobbin shapeto be built on the spools.

At spaced locations along the length of ring rail 14, at least at itstwo ends, the ring rail is fastened by screws 15 upon support arms orseats 16 extending across the bottom of the ring rail. Each support arm16 has a downward leg 16a fitting between parallel side plates 18 orside walls of a trolley T. A pivot pin 19 pivotally connects leg 16a tothe trolley side walls which are formed below the pivot pin withhorizontally elongated slots 18a. Extending through slots 18a andthroughleg 16a is a. fastener element 2%, such as a bolt to be tightened inplace by a nut. By loosening the fastener elements 20 of the pluralityof ring rail seating arms 16, the ring rail is made free for tiltableadjustment about pivot pins 19 so as to be laterally leveled. The ringrail assembly, as is clear now, has at least two end support arms 16 forthe ring rail 14. Assuming two arms 16, there are two trolleys T eachsupporting one of the arms 16 in cantilever fashion; also, there are twoguide rods 11 each guide rod extending through one of the trolleys. Eachtrolley has balanced rolling traction on its associated guide rod 10.For this purpose, the trolley is provided with a pair of guide rollers21 vertically spaced apart and arranged for engagement with oppositesides of the guide rod. Rollers 21 are centrally grooved for maintainedtracking coaction with the guide rod. In addition to the anti-frictionrolling engagement afiorded by rollers 21 for smoothing the ride of thetrolleys along the guide rods 10, further reduction in tractionresistance is provided by mounting the rollers themselves onanti-friction journals. Thus, as indicated in FIGS. 2 and 3, each roller21 is journaled at its ends by a pair of ball bearings 22 of which theinner rings have trunnions 23 engaging in holes in the trolley walls 18.

Fastened between the sides 18 of each trolley T is a clevis block 25provided with a protruding eye piece 25a through which a threaded stud26 freely passes. The stud 26 is held in position within the eye pieceby a pair of nuts 27 at opposite sides of the eye piece and is connectedto one end of a litter chain 28. The ring rail assembly is thussuspended from the lifter chains 28 at the ends of the assembly. Theconnections including the threaded studs 26 and nuts 27 enable the ringrail assembly to be adjusted for longitudinal leveling of the ring rail14. Thus should the right hand end of the ring rail be too high, it canbe rought down by suitable adjustment of the nuts 27 to lower the righthand trolley T relative to its lifter chain 28. The ring'rail 14 is thusuniversally adjustable for leveling, longitudinal leveling beingprovided for by adjustment of the trolley connections to the lifterchains and lateral leveling by the tiltable .position to the ring railassembly.

Q adjustment of the rail seating arms 16 about the pi pins 19.

The ring rail assembly is impositively moved through its down and up,strokes by builder mechanism including the lifter chains 28. The buildermeans connected to the chains are not shown as they form no direct partof the present invention. Such means may include builder mo tion waveshafts with sprocket wheels around which'the lifter chains 28' are ledto support builder weights inop- The down stroke of the ring railassembly will occur upon the lifting of the I builder weights while theup stroke of the ring rail assembly will occur upon the dropping of thebuilder weights. The-anti-friction roller ride of the trolleys T of thering rail assembly suspension along the guide rods 10 provides forsmooth up and down travel of the ring rail assembly without anychattering or vibration upon reversal of motion from up stroke to downstroke or vice versa. The engagement of the rollers 21 of the trolleyswith opposite sides of the guide rods ll) provides a laterally balancedtraction of the suspension trolleys T along the guide rods. With the twoguide rollers 21 of a trolley being vertically otfset and at oppositesides of a guide adjust itself to variations in dimensions withinworking tolerances. Further, due to this construction, the pres ence oflint on theguide rods will not hinder the travel of the ring railassembly because the guide rollers will freely rollover the lint, whilethe trolleys will adjust themselves angularly to the disturbance of theroller po-. sitions. Further still, lint will not be caught and stuckbetween the guide rods and the guide rollers or any part of the.trolleys, but due to the continual rotation of the 2. In a threadtwister or the like, a ring rail assembly to be vertically reciprocatedfor build-up of bobbins, frame-based vertical guide rods for guiding thevertical reciprocation of the ring assembly, said assembly including anelongated horizontal ring rail and a suspension therefor comprising atleast two trolleys, the trolleys being in laterally ofiset positionsrelative to the ring rail, support arms reaching from the respectivetrolleyslto the ring rail for supporting the ring rail at longitudinallyspaced locations ofthe rail, said support arms being tiltably adiustablyfastened to the trolleys to enable the ring rail to be leveledlaterally, each trolley having anti-friction traction along one of theguide rods and provided for the purpose of such traction with at leasttwo guide elements having rolling engagement with opposite sides of theguide rod for the trolley, and lifter means connected to the trolleysfor controlling impositive up and down strokes of bobbin-buildingreciprocation of the ring rail assembly along the guide rods.

3. The invention according to' claim 2, vertically adjustableconnections being provided between the lifter means and the trolleys toenable the trolleys and thereby the ring rail to be leveled also inlongitudinal direction.

rollers will be dispersed and thrown out of the trolleys,

the. trolleys being open at the bottom to permit the lint to fallthrough. Thus there is no danger of the ring rail.

assembly incorporating the novel suspension sticking because ofaccumulation of lint between guidesurfaces. Be-

cause of the advantages of the novel ring rail'suspem.

understood that changes in the form and details of the disclosedembodiment may be made without departing from the invention. It isintended, therefore, to be limited no further than indicated by thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a thread twister or the like, a ring rail assembly to bevertically reciprocated for build-up of bobbins, frame-based verticalguide rods for guiding the vertical reciprocation of the ring railassembly, said assembly including an elongated horizontal ring rail anda suspension therefor comprising at least two trolleys, at least twosupport arms each having one end attached to the ring rail at spacedapart points and extending in a direction substantially perpendicular tothe length of the ring rail, means to attach one of the trolleys to theopposite end of each support arm for supporting the ring rail atlongitudinally spaced locations of the rail, each trolley havinganti-friction traction along one of the guide rods and provided for thepurpose of such traction with at least two guide elements having rollingengagement with opposite sides of the guide rod for the trolley, andlifter means connected to the trolleys for controlling impositive up anddown strokes of bobbin-building reciprocation of the ring rail assemblyalong the guide rods,

'4. In a thread twister or the like, a ring rail assembly to bevertically reciprocated for build-up of bobbins, frame-based verticalguide rods for guiding reciprocation of the assembly, said assemblyincluding an elongated horizontal ring rail and a suspension thereforcomprising a pair of trolleys at the ends of the ring rail, a pair ofsupport arms each having one end attached to the ring rail and theopposite end of eachsupport arm'extending substantially perpendicularlywith the. length of the ring rail, said opposite end of each support armbeing attached to one of the trolleys for supporting the ring rail atthe ends, each trolley having anti-friction traction along one of theguide'rods and provided for such traction with a pair of guide rollershaving rolling engagement with opposite sides of the guide rod for thetrolley, and lifter means connected to the trolleys for controllingimpositive up and down strokes of bobbin-building'reciprocation of thering rail assembly. r

V 5. In a thread twister or the like, a ring rail assembly to bereciprocated for bobbin build-up. frame-based vertical guide rods, saidassembly'including an elongated horizontal ring rail and a suspensiontherefor comprising means including a pair of troll ys for'supportingthe ring rail at longitudinally spaced locations of the rail, eachtrolley having a pair of spaced parallel side walls between which a saidguide rod extends and each trolley having rolling traction on oppositesides of the associated guide rod, the trolley being provided for thepurpose of such traction with at least two guide rollers journaledbetween the trolley walls, oneof the guide rollers being located forrolling engagement with one side of the guide rod extending between theside walls of the trolley and the other guide roller being located forrolling engagement with the opposite side of this guide rod, and meansconnected with the trolleys 'for controlling their up and down strokesof bobbin-building reciprocation.

6. In a thread twister or the like, a ring rail assembly to be moved upand down for bobbin-building, framebased vertical guide rods, saidassembly including anelongated horizontal ring railand a suspensiontherefor comprising means including a pair of trolleys for supportingthe ring rail at longitudinally separated locations of the ring rail,each trolley having rolling engagement with a guide rod diagonallyacross the rod, the trolley being provided for such engagement with apair of guide rollers vertically spaced apart one roller at one side'ofthe guide rod and the other roller at the opposite side of the guiderod, whereby the rollershave a rolling engagement with vertically spacedopposite surfaces of the guide rod, means connected with the trolleysfor controlling the bobbinbuilding up and down movements of the ringrail assembly, each trolley having an open-bottom frame comprised of apair of side walls between which an associated one of the guide rodsextends, and each guide rollor being provided with ball bearing journalmeans for journaling the roller between the trolley Walls.

7. The invention according to claim 6, the rollers being centrallygrooved and the guide rods being round to provide for maintainedtracking coaction between the guide rollers and the guide rods.

8. In a thread twister, a frame, an elongated horizontal ring railassembly adapted to be moved up'and down for bobbin-building, and asuspension to move each ring rail independently of any other ring railcomprising at least two trolleys, at least two support arms each havingone end attached to the ring rail at spaced apart points and extendingin a direction substantially perpendicular to the length of the ringrail, means to attach one of the trolleys to the opposite end of eachsupport arm for supporting the ring rail, each trolley havinganti-friction traction along one of the guide rods and provided for thepurpose of such traction with at least two guide elements having rollingengagement with opposite sides of the guide rods for the trolle, andlitter means connected to the trolley for controlling impositive up anddown strokes of bobbin-building reciprocation of the ring rail assemblyalong the guide rods.

9. In a thread twister, a ring rail assembly to be verticallyreciprocated for build-up of bobbins, frame-based vertical guide rodsfor guiding the vertical reciprocation of the ring rail assembly, saidassembly including an elon-' gated horizontal ring rail and a suspensiontherefor, said suspension comprising at least two trolleys, at least twosupport arms, each having one end attached to the ring rail at spacedapart points and extending in a direction substantially perpendicular tothe length of the ring rail, means to attach one of the trolleys to theopposite end of each support arm for supporting the ring rail at longitudinally spaced locations of the rail, each trolley having two bearingmeans spaced apart vertically, the uppermost of the bearing means beingin roiling engagement with the side of the guide rod furthermost fromthe ring rail, the lowermost of the bearing means being in rollingengagement With the side of the guide rod adjacent the ring rail so thatthe ring rail may be pivoted relative to the guide rod, and lifter meansconnected to the trolleys for controlling impositive up and down strokesof bobbinbuilding reciprocation of the ring rail assembly on the guiderod.

10. The invention according to claim 1 including means to attach saidguide elements for each trolley in vertically spaced apart relation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,892,343 Hess Dec. 27, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS 525,524 Great Britain Aug.29, 1940 706,523 Germany May 28, 1941 810,615 Great Britain Mar. 18,1959 1,195,661 France May 19, 1959

